Time for some real talk.
Did you know that in 2020, cellular technology known as fifth-generation wireless, or 5G, is due to be mainstream in many countries? 5G is designed to revolutionize wireless networks by supercharging their speed and responsiveness.
At the cellular/mobile level, 5G will have speeds 600 times faster than the 4G you see at the upper left-hand corner of your phone right now.
Stop! Re-read that again, please.
600 TIMES FASTER than current speeds.
This significant jump in speed will have an unprecedented impact on all kinds of professions, most notably with the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, or the ability of technology to simulate human intelligence. AI processes include learning, reasoning, and self-correction.
So what impact will Artificial Intelligence have on present-day jobs?
The answers are multifaceted and unknown. We can guess, and here are two of mine: For one, it means your Alexa, Google Home and/or Apple Watch are about to get their own version of a flux capacitor (it’s hard not to use back to the future reference in times like these).
Secondly, it means that AI will begin to function at unimaginable levels. Author Kai-Fu Lee in his book AI Superpowers claims that the metaphorical illustration for this progress will be akin to the difference between having electricity and not having it. In the podcast, Exponential Wisdom, Peter Diamandis claims that this change will be so massive in scale that we haven’t seen even 1% of the change we are going to see in the next decade.
Based on these two examples, we have to ask ourselves three questions:
- Does that mean we are living in a modern-day dark age right now?
- How will this seismic shift in information technology impact our classrooms and learning standards?
- What will this shift in information have on the way we learn?
I believe some educators are already getting a glimpse of this massive shift in learning. They have become social — and social media — learners who curate critical learning online with other professionals around the globe, who readily touch base with video calls to multiple time zones. These teachers prepare their students using 21st-century methods and tools. Students might even experience a check for understanding like this HL Biology class in Madrid, Spain. This student goes virtually inside a nucleosome to identify its components using VR. Consider a video by one of my favorite people, David Hotler of the American School of Madrid.
Link to this Instagram video
This example is BEFORE 5G
Technology is Changing the Learning Landscape
People are using technology and social platforms to engage in meaningful conversations and form professional learning networks. They glean important information that was not available to them even two decades ago. Educators still getting their information from a single expert, or from a class with a syllabus created in 1996 with multiple choice tests, will be left in the dust in a 5G learning environment.
Educators are not at all on the same page when it comes to social media and learning. For some, social media is a powerful classroom tool. But to others, it’s a scary unknown, or worse, a useless distraction. For this reason, a shift towards this important learning medium has not occurred.
But I would postulate that if you went to a teacher who is really innovating instruction in their classroom and asked if they were on Twitter, in an educator’s Facebook Group, or another educational social media network, they would answer yes almost every time.
People with a growth mindset constantly seek out learning, and they are finding their liberation on social media platforms. As learning shifts, these educators are at the forefront of conversational and serendipitous learning. They are quickly mastering 21st-century skills of critical curation and engagements at the global level. On their own, and outside of mandated training, they have developed powerful legitimate learning networks.
Social learning platforms are changing the landscape of learning and uplifting meaningful conversations that help get us ready for these shifts. But Virtual Learning Communities and their value are still only realized by comparatively few educators. It is time we changed that, and according to 2020 predictions — quick!
How will teachers keep up with a hyperspeed informational shift? What changes will be part of this 5G revolution?
Harnessing the power of online and socially connected learning is an important start. If educators are not dipping their toes in the Twitter pond, it’s time to start. If they have not experienced VR yet, it’s time to find someone who has access and ask to try it out. If 5G is really going to be 600 times faster, we need to value networked learning at every level of education — and it might just need to happen quicker than we thought.
Holly Clark is the Co-Author of The Google Infused Classroom follow Holly on Twitter or Instagram or FB Group.